Pacemaker enhanced noise-induced synchrony in cellular arrays

We study effects of additive noise on a pacemaker driven excitable cellular array. We find that the subthreshold periodic pacemaker can largely enhance noise-induced synchrony in the array already at very small noise intensities. The phenomenon is tested for robustness against various diffusion coefficients and system sizes. Results are discussed in view of their biological importance. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.